 Knowledge is power, like any power. The power of knowledge can be a temptation, a temptation to take advantage of people, a temptation to lord it over people. It's been so long since I was ordained a priest, almost 40 years ago, that I don't remember how. I used all the knowledge I gained in the seminary. But some of you may be aware of priests ordained in recent years. I am. I'm proud of the priests that I've been able to ordain. What a great honor. But I also know that sometimes newly minted priests can use their knowledge to lord it over people. Father knows best. I know this because sometimes people call or write to me. We have this new priest, and he says, and yet in our scripture readings today, God is conveying to people marvelous knowledge. To Moses, he is beginning to reveal his plan of the exodus, leading the people out of slavery to the promised land. Now, of course, we know that God has already established a covenant with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, but in a sense that has gone dormant as the people have suffered in slavery in Egypt. But God is now ready to renew that covenant and to bring it bursting forth when the people leave Egypt and come into the promised land. And Moses is the agent that God will use to lead the people. And God is now through this burning bush beginning to reveal to Moses this great plan. Incredible knowledge that is. And for Moses to be told that he will be the lead agent. And in the gospel, Jesus says to his disciples or about his disciples as he prays rather to the Father, great things will be revealed to them. These simple people, not the clever, not the wise and learned, but to these simple people will be revealed those things that have been hidden, things that we know, things that we know. But why does God allow us to know these things? Why does God inspire people like you to come to Franciscan University in the middle of the summer to attend the Moscow conference or other conferences like it? Why does God place in your heart a confidence in his word, in his promise? Why does God allow people like you and me to be able to stand at a certain position and look at life in ways that are different from the way other people look at life? Some years ago, I had to earn a doctorate in Canada Law. The class part was OK, but writing a thesis was absolutely wretched. And ever since, I can't stand to write anything. So the night, for example, I'm expected to give a talk here, and I had to write it. Painful, truly painful. But every month, I write a column for our Diocesan magazine. Now, I can talk. I can talk forever, but I just don't like to write. But I discipline myself to write the column for the Diocesan paper. But I scratch my head every month. What should I write about? What would be interesting enough? What would be informative enough? What would be inspiring enough for the people of Diocese of Joliet to read in this time when people don't read much anyway? And what is it that I want to discipline myself to sit down and write about? But one of the temptations that I face is having knowledge and knowing the truth. And I'm not talking about truth as I see it, because that's how our world operates, how I see it. But knowing the truth as God sees it, the kind of truth that God was revealing to Moses, the kind of truth that Jesus was sent to reveal to his disciples and through them to the world. I just finished writing my column for September on the Supreme Court's decision on same-sex marriage. It's not a subject on which a bishop can equivocate, come across as a know-it-all, pass judgment on people. I might know the truth of God, but I am not God. Our feast today, St. Bonaventure, great Franciscan, appropriate that we should be here at Franciscan University to celebrate it. A very learned man, doctor of the church. He also happened to be a bishop and a cardinal. See, even bishops can be smart. But he was a very humble man at the same time. God wants us to know him. God wants us to know his truth, the truth that he has so graciously and generously revealed to us. And God wants us to share that truth with the world. That's what we have been sent to do. But we must always avoid the temptation to be proud, to be arrogant. It's a delicate balance. Perhaps that's why at the end of the day, Jesus chose the simplest of people to be his disciples. But now he has chosen us to go forth, to proclaim the truth, fearlessly and fully, but always to know that it has been revealed to us when the sight of God are the childlike.